The present invention relates to a timepiece, and more particularly to a timepiece for displaying seconds, minutes, hours etc. and comprising means for generating time standards, means for producing different time units, e.g. seconds and minutes, from said time standards and means for displaying said different time units.
In the art, analog and digital watches are well-known. Analog watches usually comprise a dial piece and seconds, hour and minute hands, whereas light emitting diode elements or liquid crystal elements are employed as display elements of digital electronic watches. These elements put together different digits and numbers, thus displaying seconds, minutes, hours, morning and afternoon indications, date and day of the week, number of the week etc. The analog and digital watches, however, have a dial piece in common which includes either the hands or the numbers. Although this dial piece may be a circular or a quadratic or a rectangular one, it is, in any case, a formation the length of which does not differ very much from its width.
A wrist watch for extraordinary length/width-relationship is known from the French Patent No. 1,516,891. This patent describes a elongated watch case being adapted to the wrist and comprising several windows on its surface, behind each of which digits or numbers will appear. These digits or numbers are moved by a mechanism which is, in turn, moved by a clockwork. Thus, the windows show different numbers, the one representing minutes and the other representing hours, for example. However, even this well-known watch is conventional insofar as it is divided into two parts, one part being the watch case and the other being the bracelet.
Another wrist watch having liquid crystal display elements and the capability of displaying second, minute, hour, morning and afternoon indications, date and day of the week, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,099. In opposition to the above mentioned watch it works electronically and not mechanically. The calendar display includes a plurality of liquid crystal elements arranged in a matrix form having seven columns each representing the weeks of the months. However, this watch, too, is divided into a watch case having a display area and a bracelet. The main difference between this watch and other well-known wrist watches lies in the plurality of display elements.
A wrist watch having tape-like means going around the whole bracelet is disclosed in the German Auslegeschrift No. 1 115 192. The bracelet of this watch is excavated and conducts a tape which carries time indicating numbers on its surface. This tape is moved by driving means through the bracelet and it displays the time in a window of said bracelet. Although tape-like means is provided in that watch, the time-displaying area is as small as usual.
Finally, an electronic wrist watch has been disclosed in the German Offenlegungsschrift No. 25 01 234 which corresponds to the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 504,374 having the priority date of Sept. 9, 1974. This watch is a modular construction and not divided into a watch case having a display area and a bracelet. It comprises several chips being arranged in a circle and having different functions. One of these chips is for displaying the time, a second for applying energy, a third for controlling a logic circuit, a fourth for stopping the watch, a fifth for selecting different time zones etc. Thus, one time indicating chip is followed by several functional chips, i.e. the time is displayed only by one chip. Therefore, time display means are located in a relatively small area of the circumference of a tape-like bracelet and cannot be distributed over a larger field.